Carrot, stick needed to change Suarez

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By : The Associated Press

How is it that footballers are among the few who’ve not had much to say about the bite seen around the world, now punished with an appropriately tough ban?

Luis Suarez’s peers surely can’t all be fearful that he might chomp them next if they voice an opinion about his penchant for man-flesh. Some of his teammates and his latest victim, Giorgio Chiellini, told their (conflicting) sides of this bizarre story.

But other players are too busy trying to win the World Cup to worry themselves with the Uruguay striker, what football should do about him and whether the punishment FIFA meted out Thursday fits his crime. Their broad silence, punctuated by few exceptions, has been deafening when the rest of planet football talked and tweeted up a storm about Suarez fanging the Italian defender’s shoulder and now being sent home.

FIFA did well with its swift, measured justice in this case. Excluding the man-toddler from the rest of the World Cup means football can get back to focusing on the fabulous play at its showcase tournament and less on Suarez’s psyche and need of a pacifier/muzzle.

Instead of blindly closing ranks, trying to defend the indefensible and pretending he is the victim of a conspiracy, now is the time for teammates and Uruguay officials to sit in a semi-circle around Suarez and one after the other explain how he is letting them and himself down. Peer pressure might be more effective than simple punishment in moderating his behavior. They could help themselves by helping him stop ruining what should be a glorious career, given his skills with a ball.

Smart sponsors should cut him off as they eventually did with Lance Armstrong. If they don’t, then, by association, they are encouraging his behavior. Buyers who’ve sniffed around Liverpool to test whether the club will part with the Premier League’s top scorer last season also should look elsewhere. Handing over squillions for Suarez now would make them complicit and allow him to believe that club bosses don’t care if he bites opponents just so long as he beats them.

But Liverpool should both publicly condemn and stand by Suarez, as it did in the past, and again show that its motto — “You’ll never walk alone” — means just that. Educate Suarez by offering him a carrot to go with the sting of FIFA’s stick. Make Liverpool’s support conditional on him accepting counseling and understanding his behavior from his victims’ perspective.